On May 20, Mr. Luo Qiang, Mayor of Chengdu, and Mr. Tom Tate, Mayor of City of Gold Coast, Australia, inked an agreement on establishing a sister-city relationship between Chengdu and City of Gold Coast.

Mr. Tom Tate, Mayor of City of Gold Coast, Australia

This was Mr. Tate's sixth time to head a delegation to visit Chengdu. During his third visit in 2016, Chengdu and City of Gold Coast forged a friendly and cooperative relation. Three years on, the tie has been progressing significantly.

In Mr. Tate's view, the ever-increasing people-to-people exchanges between the two cities have driven their fast growth in the tourist industry, education and health care sector.

In education, the two cities co-hosted a number of exchanges and competitions for their young people. The West China School of Medicine of Sichuan University, Sichuan Normal University and Chengdu Sport University established, respectively, a long-term cooperative relationship with Griffith University in Australia.

In the medical field, Chengdu's Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals Inc. and Griffith University co-launched a laboratory for vaccine R & D, which is aimed to develop GAS vaccines.

When talking about the future cooperation, Mr. Tate hopes that in addition to education and medicine, which will still be priorities of the mutual partnership, direct flights could be open between the two cities. And he is very pleased to help Chengdu establish a koala park by sending a certain number of the cute animal to the city.

Australian Cochlear Limited, the world’s largest provider of artificial cochleas and one of the global top 100 medical equipment manufacturers, signed an agreement with Chengdu on investment in projects involving the hearing industry and hi-tech innovation on July 14, 2017.